Elizabeth O’Leary is a Senior Managing Director at Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) and head of MAM Agriculture & Natural Assets, one of the world’s largest private land managers, with a portfolio that spans 4.8m hectares and employs over 450 people across Australia and Brazil.
Elizabeth leads the establishment of MAM Agriculture & Natural Asset’s funds and related investment vehicles and is committed to developing the natural assets sector into a mature and attractive asset class with growing institutional investment. MAM Agriculture & Natural Assets adopts an active asset management approach to its vast landholdings, and under Elizabeth’s leadership, the business is executing a leading decarbonisation and sustainability agenda. This has included pioneering methods of measuring, reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions across its farming operations, which include livestock, grains, oilseeds and tree crops. MAM Agriculture has also been a leading farmland contributor to Australian biodiversity schemes
Elizabeth joined Macquarie in 2003 and has held a number of senior corporate roles in Australia, Asia and the UK. Alongside the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Elizabeth is a member of the Energy, Emissions and Efficiency Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the CSIRO Agriculture and Food Advisory Group, director of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, a Member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and a regular speaker and contributor at industry forums. Elizabeth was raised on a mixed farm in the Southern Riverina and has held private interests in farming assets for over two decades.